A TEESSIDE student who was bullied so badly at school that she ended up in a mental health hospital has recorded her traumatic experiences on film.

Amy Cherry, from Norton, tells her story on a DVD, produced by young people from Stockton Riverside College.

Amy, a performing arts student at the college, is one of a number of people who have contributed their life stories to the disc, which promotes the new learning programme Entry2Employment (e2e).

The 17-year-old has turned her life around after suffering years of bullying.

She said the abuse at the hands of her classmates got so bad that she twice attempted suicide and eventually was admitted to an adolescent mental health hospital for four months after suffering a breakdown.

She said: "I was once beaten up by a boy on the way to school. I told my teachers about what was happening but it seemed like I became a hassle for them to deal with. One of them even told me I was bringing it on myself.

"I ended up believing that maybe I just had one of those faces, that I was bound to be bullied."

The teenager quit school and after a second breakdown, which saw her re-admitted to hospital, she enrolled on the college course at Stockton. This was a turning point in her life.

Amy said: "I now had people who actually liked me and wanted to be my friend and there was no fighting for acceptance, it just came."

As part of the course, she was picked out to be a presenter on the new LSC Tees Valley learning DVD, which promotes alternative learning routes provided by e2e. The film, shot at locations around the Tees Valley, will be used in schools.

She said she hoped her story would inspire others and help raise awareness of bullying.

"Unfortunately in my experience, I found that a lot of the time the bullying was ignored," she said.

"Many of the staff just didn't want to know, which leaves you feeling really vulnerable."